Student Travel Committee

The Student Travel Committee reviews student-initiated travel funding requests. The Committee is composed of faculty, students, and administrators, and is co-chaired by Mitch Bailin, Dean of Students, and Barbara Moulton, Assistant Dean for Public Interest and Community Service.

Funding Guidelines: Travel Eligible for Committee Funding

The Committee reviews requests by individual students and student organizations to fund the following types of student-initiated travel:

Travel by individual students to present papers at academic conferences

The Committee rarely funds travel for a student's academic research

Travel by individual students or members of student organizations to attend conferences, including but not limited to academic conferences, legal association conferences, law journal conferences and public interest conferences

The Committee rarely funds travel to participate in a conferences unless the student is (1) representing a Georgetown student organization at a national student organization conference or (2) presenting a paper at the conference

Student organizations seeking funds for conference registration fees must first make a request to the Student Bar Associations. Only upon denial by SBA can an organization then make a request to the Student Travel Committee fore registration fee coverage.

Travel by individual students to serve on the board of a national student organization

Travel by groups of students for activities that further Georgetown's mission and/or ethic of service, such as

Service trips

Fact-finding trips not otherwise funded through the Human Rights Institute or another Georgetown Law institute

Other student-initiated travel that is consistent with Georgetown Law's mission and not funded (or funded completely) through other internal or external sources

The Committee will generally consider requests to fund:

conference registration fees;

ground, air, or other transportation

hotel or other accommodations

Multiple students participating in the same trip or conference will be expected to share hotel rooms where gender balance and other considerations permit. They will also be expected to share rental cars where the destination does not require air travel. The Committee will consider requests to fund other travel-related expenses, including meals, only in exceptional circumstances.

All students participating in international travel arranged or funded by the Law Center are required to register their travel with the Office of Transnational Programs. The International Travel Policy can be found here.

The Committee will review requests to fund eligible travel that has already been completed if the student can provide full receipts.

Requests that are denied funding or funded only in part by the Committee generally will not be eligible for funding through SBA, the Dean's Office, or other Law Center offices.

Travel Ineligible for Committee Funding

Travel activities that are not initiated by students do not fall under the Committee's jurisdiction and therefore are ineligible for Committee funding. Ineligible travel also includes:

Clinic-related travel

Journal-related travel

Travel for Winter Course

Travel for Barristers' Council

Travel to Internships

Travel within 60 miles of the Law Center, though students may apply for funding for such trips from the Student Bar Association

Funding Priorities

In prioritizing funding requests, the Committee has adopted a number of guidelines, including but not limited to the following:

Student travel to attend a conference or program should benefit a student organization, the student government, or the broader Law Center community, rather than simply further an individual student's academic or career interests. Students should explain in detail in their application how the travel will benefit other students and the Georgetown Law community.

The Committee generally does not fund international travel when a comparable program or experience is available in the United States. For example, the Committee is unlikely to fund international pro bono work when the nature of the service and population served is substantially similar to pro bono work done in the U.S. Students requesting funding of such travel are advised to explain in detail how and why the experience cannot be replicated domestically.

The Committee generally may set a limit on the number of students who travel to the same event or conference. In such cases, students may choose whether to send only that number of students or to disburse the money equally over a larger group of students. The Committee may also combine or consider in tandem applications for travel to the same event or conference.

Students seeking funding for an event or conference on behalf of or related to the mission of a student organization should advise and coordinate with the leadership of the organization before submitting an application. In considering such applications, preference will be given to funding the organization's student leaders.

There is far more demand for funding that available funds. Accordingly, the Committee may fund a request in whole, in part, or not at all. In individual cases the Committee may ask students to contribute to the trip themselves. For partially-funded trips, applicants may seek supplemental funding in the third and final application cycle for the academic year. Such requests will be considered only after decisions have been made on all initial requests for funding.